Toy railroad system



Feb, 6, 1923.

1,444,654 C. ll BRADBURY' TOY RAILROAD SYSTEM Filed Sept. 25 1922 Fetented Feb" 6, i923 lAtMiSi ernr 'i onirronn c. BRADBUBY, or one: PARK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOB or ONE-HALF "r0 noenar r. BRACKE, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

TQY RAILROAD SYSTEIE.

Application filed September 25, 1922. Serial No. 590,251.

Be it known that L Cnirrone C. BRAD- BURY? a citizen of the United States, and resident of Oak Park, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Toy Raih road Systems, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact-description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specific-a: tron.

My invention relates to toy railroad systems and .more especially, although not necessarily, to such inexpensive trains as are propelled manually rather than by spring or electric motors and which have no tracks and flanged wheels to prevent lateral displacement of the train.

One object of myinvention is the provision of a. toy train system in which the train runs upon a painted track and is guided, by the co-operation of guides secured to the cars of the train with a groove running along the track whereby substantially the same enjoyment is had by a. child operating the train as though the train ran upon a real track and wherein the expense of manufacture is nominal compared with the manufacture of a real track.

Another object of my invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive and eliicient means for guiding a toy train around a pre determined pathway.

A further object of my invention is the provision of a toy railway system in which the toy train runs about a tray which may be inexpensively ,manufactured either by stamping it from a single sheet of metal or by molding celluloid in a thin sheet-like tray. v Still another object is the provision of an inexpensive toy train system which: may easily be rested on the knees of the child who.

plays with itor may be used by a child in a sick bed without the inconvenience of the train being easily run off'or dropped from..

the tray upon. which it rests. 7

Many other features and advantages of my invention will become apparent in the reading of the following description, in which I refer to the accompanying drawings which illustrate an adaptation of my invention and wherein:

Figure 1 isa plan view of the tray with a toy train thereon H Figure 2 is a veitical section taken on the line 2 20f Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical section takenlongitudinally of the train on the line 3-3 of Figure 1; y Figure l is a transverse vertical section of the train and tray taken on the line a -41' of Figure 3; and v Figure .5 is a detail plan. of a portion of the tray showing the printed trackway, switches and the like with which the upper surface of the trayis preferably provided, but which has been omitted from Figural for convenience and clarity. I

Similar reference characters refer to si 1ni-. lar parts throughout the several drawings. The tray 10 which forms the surface upon which the train 1.1 runs is preferably made from a sheet of thin material and provided adjacent its margin with a rather deep groove 12, and at its margin with an *upturned flange 13 which forms aside for the tray of suflicient height to prevent the train, should it leave its guiding groove, from falling off the tray, The groove 12 and flange 13.

also serve efi'ectivelyto reinforce the thin sheet to make the tray quite rigid. The bot tom of the tray is provided, with a plurality of connected grooves 14: preferably arranged with the conventional switches, curves, figures 8 and spurs with: which the track of a toy railway system is customarily provided.

lWhile these grooves 14 may be provided on a tray of any construction and of comparatively great thickness, they are especially adapted to a tray which is formed from sheet-likematerial, such as sheet metal, in which casethe trays may be, stamped in large quantities from dies at avery low cost per tray. My inventionis also particularly suitablein its ap-plicationto a tray support molded from celluloid or similar substance in which .the celluloid can be formedfin a very thin sheet which will still retain sufficient rigidity because of the re1n-, forcing effects of the grooves 14, as well as the marginal flanges.

The toy train 111's preferably composed of the conventional locomotive, tender and other. cars which. are provided with the usual transversely spaced supporting wheels 15 which aotuallylrotate upon axles, althoughflif a cheaper construction be preferred,the dummy supporting wheels may ing wheels, whereby the latter be provided. The several cars may be coupled together in any suitable manner, such as by the overlapping lugs 16 provided. respectively with the usual hook and eye construction.

Spaced preferably midway between t supporting wheels is a guide member 3 which comprises a small rod extending downwardly from each car below the plane of the surface of the tray and into the groove 14, where it is provided with an offset hoole shaped portion 18 lyingin a vertical plane longitudinally of the car. The hook-shaped offset 18 prevents any sharp edges of the guide member from digging into the sides of the co-operating groove and also prevents the guide member from continuing in the wrong groove when passing the crossovers 20 in the circuitous groove 14. In the drawings the cars illustrated are die cast and the guide member 17 has been die cast into the bottom of each car and is pro?- erably surrounded at its attachment to the car by a reinforcing boss 21.. It will be understood, however, that in cars which are stamped from sheet metal, or otherwise coustructed, equally satisfactory methods of supporting the guide member 1? may be devised and that the guide member itself may take a number of other but suitable forms.

The toy train will operate Successfully whether each guide member 17 is placed at the end or at the mildle of its car, but as a centrally located guide member tends to permit a swinging of the car, and especially of an end car, I prefer to locate the guide members well toward the rear of each car, and as here shown, near the axis of the supportserve to hide the guide members from. view. When the guide members are thus located at the rear of each car, the forward carin the drawing, the locomotive is provided with an auxiliary guide member 17 at its forward end, as there is no car ahead of this to guide the forward end of the locomotive. Conversely, if the guide member is placed at the forward end of each car, the last car, or caboose, is preferably provided with aguide member at each end.

It is to be observed that the tangential relation of the grooves at the switches 19 is such that the pulling 011 the forward car will 'resultina sufficient transverse component at the switches to cause the successive guides 17 to follow which ever groove the first car has entered.

By the imprinting, decalcomania, or other simulation of a railroad track 22 with its rails, ties, switches 23 and the like,'provided at the upper surface of the tray 10 and following the grooves 14, the train will. run on this track in a realistic manner, as the supporting wheels 15 will travel quiteaccurately along thesimulated rails of the insane.

track 22. As shown in Figure 5, the track is so imprinted that the groove 54 falls midway between the rails, so that the cooperating guide 17, which is midway between the supporting wheels 15, positions I the latter upon the rails or the track. In this manner, and for very little cost of manufacture, realistic result is easily accomplished without the use of raised rails or even wheels that actually rotate. It is also to be observedifrom Figure 5 that staticns 2t. switch-stands 25, water tanks and the like can also be printed upon the tray at little additional expense.

i hile I have illustrated but a particular adaptation of my invention, it is to be understood, of course, that many changes therein may be made without departing from the spiritof my invention, which is to be limited only by the prior art and scope of the appended claims.

li claim:

1. A. toy railroad system comprising in combination a thin sheetlike tray having upturned margins, a groove generally U- shaped in cross section formed in said tray and having curves and switches, a plurality of cars forming a train, each car having supporting wheel members resting upon said tray adjacent to said groove, a guide secured to each of said cars and extending into said groove and guiding said train.

2. A toy railroad system comprising in combination a base and a train of cars reciprocable upon said base, each car being provided with one, and one end carwith two, guide members secured near the ends of their respective cars, and a groovedguideway in said base, said guides extending into said guideway. l

3. In combination, a toy railroad train consisting of plurality of cars having transversely spaced supports, guide means between said supports and extending below the plane of said supports, a sheet metal tray upon the upper surface of which said supports slidably rest, and a circuitous groove substantially U-shaped in cross section in said surface in which said guide means travels for preventing transverse movement of the cars.

4. A toy train system comprising a train of cars and a base portion upon which said train runs, supporting wheels on each car for slidably supporting said car upon said base, a circuitous groove in said base, and a rod depending from each said car and at its bottom being offset longitudinally of the car, said offset extending into said groove, with which it co-operates to guide said car along the path of said groove, said offset being freely removable from said groove.

5. In a toy adapted to be held upon the knees of the operator, the combination with a toy car of a tray upon which said ear runs said tray being formed of an imperi'orate sheet oi material and having a groove extending adjacent its margin and having an upturned flange at its margin for retaining said ear within said tray, a groove substantially U-sha-ped in cross section on the bottom of said tray, and a guide on said car co-operating with said groove to guide said car.

6. A toy railroad system comprising a thin sheet metal tray having an Lip-turned marginal flange and provided with a circular groove or depression 111 the upper face thereof sald groove being substantially U-shaped ports and extending below the plane thereof and into said grooves, said marginal flange and groove actlng to give rigidity to said tray. v

In wltness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name th1s'21. day of September, 1922.

CLIFFORD C. BRADBURYV Witnesses:

I DAGMAR PETERSON,

EDNA U. GUSTAFSON, 

